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Crypto and Blockchain are registered with the Trademark Clearinghouse

Want to register a new TLD with one of these suddenly hot terms? You’re going to deal with the TMCH.

Remember the Trademark Clearinghouse for new top level domain names?

By getting a mark filed with the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), a company can get first rights to a domain matching the mark when a new TLD goes through sunrise. Also, people that try to register a domain matching the mark get a warning during the start of general availability. This triggers a notification to the trademark holder, too.

I’ve documented how some companies tried to game the system. But with new TLDs coming out with lackluster interest, the concept of premium domains with premium pricing, and new TLDs rolling out slowly now, you don’t hear about it much more.

So you might be surprised to see that Blockchain and Crypto are in the TMCH database.

I might give the crypto trademark owners a break. There are three marks in the database, apparently from two different companies using Swiss trademarks. Their websites are bordotek.com and crypto.ch. I’ll cut them some slack because they are in the crypto-security space, not cryptocurrencies.

But blockchain? A French technology company called Athanor has registered its mark in the TMCH database. Hmm.

Comments

Truly appalling. That’s the temporary evil world in which we live. They deserve no slack at all here and this is as predatory and perverse as it gets. You could even write a small book about how nobody can claim exclusive rights to “crypto” when it comes to “security.”

“By getting a mark filed with the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), a company can get first rights to a domain matching the mark when a new TLD goes through sunrise”

Does this always work?
Has this always worked?
Has it NOT worked ever?

So you are saying that each and every one of the 1000 TLD’s coming out by 2020, these sneaky bastards now have a right to before anyone else in the world, these (2) keywords (“Blockchain” and “Crypto”)?

There is something so very wrong with being able to claim such generic terms because they applied first, (years after these terms have been created)

Well I am gonna go to the TMCH tomorrow and secure each and every individual letter of the alphabet so they will not be able to put any of those letters together to create those (2) generic terms because they will be mine first.